The Fascinating Difference

'Alternative learning' is something different from Japanese culture. I talked and learned about alternative education this afternoon, and I found variety is one of the important things which makes a country more interesting.

I had been thinking that educational systems are almost all the same in a country because it is suppose to be similar and equal in Japan. I was thinking that we had to go to school to get an education because that was what I was told. Also I was taught that I had to learn how to cooperate with others, and I had been believing that that was the purpose of learning at school, until I went to an American high school for a month. So the most important things in Japan were to be reserved, to be obedient, and to keep quiet.

But the students I met in the U.S. (actually here in Spokane!) were so different. They were eager to learn and were very positive, and the classes were not lectures but discussions all the time. This was a great culture shock to me. As I listened to the guests today, I found that students in America go to school to have confidence in themselves. They don't care about education styles very much, and they get an education to get a good job. But most importantly, they go to school to learn how to live in real society. I think I have almost forgotten this most important idea, spending time in Japan.

I always think about how a lot of things that I'm learning through this program are wonderful. This time, I realized the difference between sayings in the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., people say 'The noisy wheel gets the oil,' but on the other hand, people in Japan say, 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered down'. Finding something through cultural differences is really interesting and meaningful, and the differences that I'm finding are making each country fascinating.